Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Search This Blog

Posts

Year 2009 is over very soon in less than an hour before we usher in the year 2010. Having spent some quality time taking stock on the goals set for in the beginning of year 2009, it looks like many goals remain unmet.

An analysis on the unmet goals seem to indicate dependencies among them -- an unmet goal can result in another goal not met.

With 2010 drawing near, it's time to list out new resolutions. I guess the basic rule in doing anything is to do whatever you think is not against your conscience.

Decided to jot down my Thailand (25 to 31 Dec) itinerary so I will never forget it again. All in all, the experience was fantastic with the far beyond my expectations of Thais' warm and friendliness towards tourists. This is the first time I ever had the chance to interact with the local strangers that much.

THUMBS UP!

My memory dump

25 Dec 2009Check in to Somerset Lake Point service residence.Dinner at Took Lae Dee.Sukhumvit night market.26 Dec 2009Standing Buddha at Wat Indrawiharn.Lucky Buddha (reached there but did not manage to visit it because of an on-going ceremony). There is no Lucky Buddha in Bangkok.Erawan Lapidary (a scam but we were not conned and so please do not visit it).Chin Jewelry Co. Ltd.Chatuchak Weekend Market.27 Dec 2009Damnoen Saduak Floating Market.Maeklong Railway Market.Fuji Restaurant at Siam Center.28 Dec 2009Sunflower fields at Lopburi.Pa Sak Jolasid Dam at Lopburi.Phra Prang Sam Yot at Lopburi.Fifth Avenue for dinner at Mah Boon Krong (MBK) Center.Mah B…

Can I live life without Internet access? My answer would be a YES or NO. My answer is YES if I do not wish to stay abreast to what's happening around the world. My answer is NO especially when the new semester is coming soon and I need Internet access to ballot for modules.

Having moved to a new residential location, I am yet to get myself a Internet broadband plan. The only reason why I am online and hooked onto the Internet typing this blog entry is because of a USB dongle from a friend. One obvious advantage of mobile broandband service is of course mobile - one can hook onto the Internet anywhere.

Trying my best to resist temptations to subscribe mobile broadband. NO NO NO!

Secondary school's Principles of Accounts textbook uses Creditors (XXX) instead of Accounts Payable, and Debtors (YYY) instead of Accounts Receivable in their balance sheets. So which is right?

I am 100 per cent sure A/P and A/R are correct since they are used in real corporate financial statements. However, creditors and debtors are not wrong too since they are used in GCE 'O' Levels textbook and guidebooks.

Chinese banks are creating a 'growing pool of hidden credit risk' through financial moves that shift loans off balance sheets to comply with government capital requirements, Fitch Ratings warned yesterday.

The ratings agency said in a report that the practice could lead to conditions similar to those which triggered the US sub-prime crisis, in which banks suffered huge losses on mortgage-backed securities when housing prices fell.

Fitch said banks were selling loans to financial institutions or repackaging them into wealth-management products in largely unreported transactions.

'These transactions, which free up space to extend new loans and lessen the pressure on capital and liquidity, can lead to a noticeable reduction in a bank's outstanding loans,' analysts Charlene Chu and Wen Chunling said.

'Fitch suspects this activity was one factor behind the marked slowdown in aggregate loan g…

If you are interested to read how inflationary property market can lead to a fall in an economy, read the article below. If you are interested to understand the importance of supply matching real demand, read the article below.

“Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or some place. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”

If we have learned anything over the last couple of years, it is that banks that are too big to fail pose too much of a risk to the economy. Any serious effort to reform the financial system must ensure that no such banks exist.

Come March 2010, telcos in Singapore will not be allowed to lock-in consumers for more than 24 months. Also from next March, consumers who sign on a contract longer than three months and who terminate their contract before the end of their contract period will no longer have to pay a fixed early termination charge. Instead, they will see these charges decrease over time on a month-by-month basis as they serve out their contract.

These are new guidelines set out by IDA Singapore.

Consumers to Benefit from New Guidelines on Telecommunication Services [via]

At this point in time, all stocks in my portfolio are now above waters except one - Singapore Exchange. The stocks in positive territory are ST Engineering (non employee shares) (18.22%), Koh Brothers (5%), SMRT (6.86%), Mapletree Logistics (13.06%), Parkway Holdings (32.71%), and EPure International (10.32%).

The President explains that while he continues to focus on jobs, it is also profoundly important to address the problems that created this economic mess in the first place. He commends the House of Representatives for passing reforms to our financial system, including a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and blasts Republican Leaders and financial industry lobbyists for their joint "pep rally" to defeat it. Obama voiced his displeasure in seeing big banks not learning from past mistakes and repeat giving massive bonuses to senior executives.

I was stupefied to read Facebook users actually witnessed their accounts hacked right in front of their eyes. The hacker impersonated to be the actual user to ask for cash. Cyber crimes leveraging on social engineering weaknesses are the trickiest in my opinion.

Google has announced that "Offline Gmail", an experimental feature that lets users access their web-based Gmail accounts while not connected to the internet, has finally graduated from being a Google Labs project and is being rolled out to all users.

Google Quick Scroll is a browser extension that helps you find what you are searching for faster.

After you click on a Google search result, Quick Scroll may appear on the bottom-right corner of the page, showing one or more bits of text from the page that are relevant to your query. Clicking on the text will take you to that part of the page.

Quick Scroll tries to stay out of your way, and appears only when it is likely to be useful.

The Singapore government has announced a one–year extension of 4% floor rate on all Special and Medisave Accounts (SMA) monies and Retirement Account (RA) monies for another year until 31 December 2010.

Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew is paid millions but all for not doing the work. He is an exception and is merely just doing the forecasting work.

"We also have a rule, I'm the exception to the rule, I'm 86.

But I'm not doing the work; I'm just forecasting... The work is being done by younger people in their late 40s and 50s. So there's an energy and a drive, and an understanding of the contemporary world. And they are also linked up with the younger generation of voters"

Ever since Gmail was launched more than half a decade ago, Gmail Labs finally released capability in setting default text style when composing an email. This new feature can be enabled from the Labs tab, then go to General Settings and set your preferences just once.

This new feature looks almost perfect if not for Gmail Labs forgetting to set text style for signature to be the same as the 'Default Text Style'.

Microsoft states that neither its recent November's updates nor the Malicious Software Removal Tool are responsible for the recent reports of the "Black Screen of Death" (KSOD). They insisted the problem is likely due to a malware.

Dubai financial debacle will make Thaksin more desperateThe NationPublished on December 1, 2009

MUCH has been said about the Dubai debt moratorium, whose ripple effect on other economies and financial institutions has yet to be determined. Thailand might have to bear some negative effects, as the country imports crude oil from Dubai. For goods and services, transactions will have to be adjusted to cope with the latest development.

But a well-known, notorious Thai citizen stands to be affected immensely, either through investment or personal predicament. Thaksin Shinawatra, according to news reports, has left Dubai for a trip to an unnamed European country. His purpose was also not disclosed.

The trouble in Dubai also means a lot of trouble for Thaksin, whose name and passport have been changed - from Thai to a strange-sounding name in his newly acquired Nicaraguan passport. For some years now, the fugitive has used Dubai as his base for investment and political campaigns to destabilise t…

On Friday, Chinese shares closed down 2.36 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, was down 74.72 points at 3,096.27 on turnover of 172 billion yuan (S$34.9 billion). The key index shed 6.4 per cent for the week.

A wave of contagion selling swept across Asian markets Friday, with banking giant HSBC Holdings among the hardest hit, as investors scrambled to piece together how much exposure regional lenders have to financial troubles in Dubai.

“If you are not greedy, you are not Chinese. If you are not backstabbing, you are not Indian. If you are not lazy, ’sorry’, contented, you are not Malay. If you are not made of all these three, then you are not a Singaporean.”

Dubai has delivered investors a wake-up call. The Gulf State's shock decision to seek creditors a six-month standstill on debt of conglomerate Dubai World on interest payments tied to about $60 billion in debts has hit the confidence of global investors.

On Oct 16, I posted an entry titled “Dubai Support Fund Insufficient To Meet Debts”, describing Dubai's difficulty in servicing billions dollars of debts. Oil is currently trading many times below its last year's peak of around US$147 per barrel and is hitting Dubai's overly ambitious multi billion dollar projects. Even though global stock market has rebounded significantly since March 2009 and world economy showing signs of recovery, it is impossible to catch up fast enough given Dubai's huge debts.

Islamic bonds, called sukuk, from Dubai World real-estate subsidiary Nakheel dropped from around 110 cents to around 70 cents. The bonds are due to mature on December 14. European markets reacted negatively over the poss…

On Nov 25, 1 day after my CS5261 paper, the Professor announced all answer scripts were marked. A day later, he tabulated all scores and uploaded them on the intranet.

If everything is true, I should get myself at least a minimum B+ grade since my total falls in the upper 75th percentile. Two areas I did pretty well are my class participation (10/10) and my term project (20/20) on the self-chosen topic on “Analysis of Nokia Ovi Business Model”.

Yes, I am beginning to love Economics!

B+ grade is the lowest grade I am asking for all my modules since an average of B- grade is required for graduation.

I wonder if it is against school policy to reveal final score that early.

Given the holiday, U.S. President Obama has released this week's weekly address early today. In this video, President Obama calls to our attention the men and women in uniform who are away from home sacrificing time with family to protect our safety and freedom. He also talks about the progress of health care reform, the Recovery Act, and job creation to ensure that next Thanksgiving will be a brighter day.

A PROPOSAL to ban property agents from representing both the seller and buyer in the same transaction has generated strong public interest - with many giving the idea the thumbs up.

This practice, widespread in the HDB resale market, leaves the agent with a clear conflict of interest.

But there is likely to be resistance from some agents who stand to lose commissions if it is implemented.

The proposed ban is one of a series of possible changes in a planned industry overhaul after years of complaints about questionable practices by some agents.

A public consultation exercise on a planned real estate regulatory framework drew more than 200 comments and suggestions, said the Ministry of National Development (MND) yesterday.The proposal most commented upon was the ban on dual representation.

Many respondents also backed a plan to ensure agents have a minimum entry qualification - probably an entrance exam. They felt it was …

Prof Hwang Ke-Wei left me in awe, shock and disbelief after receiving an announcement from him regarding yesterday's exam.All answer scripts were markedSample answers uploadedMarks to be uploaded by tomorrowDisputes, if any, are welcomeI pity his TAs having to "fight" till the end with him. Keep it UP but I do hope this is a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

Bull market peaks are characterised by naïve retail investors piling in to the markets, desperate to join in the profits headlined daily by the popular press. Similarly at market bottoms, the retail investor usually pulls funds out of the markets just before they turn. This unfortunate human trait has led to retail investors' funds being labelled 'dumb money'.

Last week, Google launched its long-awaited Chrome OS. What is Chrome OS? It is an operating system that boots up in seconds keeping in mind that the web browser is the most important program on your computer. In short, the web browser is in fact your operating system!

What is Google Chrome OS?

Using Google Chrome OS, one can access commonly used applications like Google Chrome web browser, Gmail, Google Docs, and so on.

Google Chrome OS UI Concept Video

Chromium OS Fast Boot (Fast forward to 3:00 not to bore you too much)

With Google Chrome OS, NOTHING is stored on your hard disk, but rather, they are stored on the Internet. What does this means? Google needs to put in double effort to make sure security and privacy issues are well taken care of. Personally, I am not comfortable with this arrangement.

A new collaboration between Google and Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) will give commuters land transport options at their fingertips.

The result is a service that will allow commuters to plan their journeys based on current traffic status.

The partnership also marks the first time a country is working with Google to provide transport options as part of its global online map platform - Google Maps.

The LTA currently provides traffic and transit information to various other vendors for similar applications, and it hopes this service will encourage more people to take public transport.

"Our aim is to make sure that commuters have all the choices and they can choose between the different modes of transport - on the bus, on the train - and to travel in different ways to reach their destination as smoothly as possible," said Yam Ah Mee, ch…

Microsoft has launched a desktop application Fishbowl to bring popular social networking site Facebook to your desktop.

Fishbowl is a trial application and a sample demonstrating a unique user experience with Facebook content, optimized for Windows 7. It is available for download by technology enthusiasts and Facebook power users.

As we get closer to Black Friday, we should see a rush of shoppers patronizing retails stores for great deals. Will this rush ignite another rally in stocks?

"Nineteen years of history favors a November/December year-end rally," Citigroup said in a note adding that best performing years were usually those associated with periods when the economy was coming out of recession.

GOOD university grades can put you ahead of the campus queue to meet choice employers. You need a projected second-class (upper division) honours degree or better. That seemed to be the message at a Nanyang Technological University (NTU) networking event for graduating students and potential bosses.

I view this as discrimination against undergraduates with poorer grades.

Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry on Thursday declared that recession is finally over after data showed its economy grew for the second straight quarter in the three months from July to September. Preliminary estimates show that the Singapore economy grew by 0.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter of 2009.

On 18 Sep 09, I bought ST Engineering shares at the price of S$2.69 per share. Today, the share price closed higher at S$3.12 per share. Over 2 months, ST Eng share price ended higher by approximately 16%. What does this show?

Fundamentally, ST Engineering stock is a value stock with over 10 billion dollars order recorded. However, technical analysis does not look very positive. RSI is currently showing signs of overbought. However, I will definitely hold onto this blue chip and am confident its resilience is real.

BTW, other than personal stock holdings under the care of CDP, I do have quite a fair bit of employee shares under SSOS as well.

Disclaimer: Please do your own background research before trading. Fully vested.

Flight trials for December are supposed to be on 15th, 16th and 17th but then it looks like the various stakeholders are in discussion again. I really do not understand why these people just cannot make up their mind and keep changing schedules as and when they like.

If these dates are not confirmed by end of this week, I shall tell them my hard dates for clearing my annual leaves.

For several weeks the insurance industry lobby has been releasing alarmist reports about draconian the health care premium increases that could result from health reform. Despite being roundly and thoroughly debunked, the insurance lobby continues to release these studies and push their bogus conclusion about cost increases.

Wonder why? Because insurance companies can profit from blocking down reform. A newly identified report from Goldman Sachs looked at the impact of health reform on major health insurance companies and put it in stark terms – insurance company earnings could be cut by 50% over the next decade if the Senate Finance Committee version of health reform passes. The best thing for insurance companies? Maintain the status quo of skyrocketing premiums, soaring profits and a health system that threatens our economy. But according to the Goldman Sachs analysis, insurance companies will also profit if the bills in the House and Senate are watered down and stripped of the key …

One of Britain's greatest writer, Enid Blyton, creator of Noddy, the Famous Five, the Secret Seven and Malory Towers was in truth a cold-hearted mother and a vindictive adultress who set out to destroy her former husband. Her private life story will be broadcasted on BBC4.

Do read on the article below on Enid's private life and you will be astonished.

Naked tennis, a lesbian affair with the nanny: New TV drama reveals Enid Blyton as a barking-mad adulterous bully [via]

Users will be able to update their Facebook status or send and read Twitter tweets directly from the Xbox Live interface, the company said. Last.fm stations will also be available, complete with gamer-specific stations, Microosft said.

Tech giant, Google, has announced its own open-source, object-oriented programming language, called Go.

According to a blog post, Go combines the development speed of working in a dynamic language like Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language like C or C++. Typical builds feel instantaneous; even large binaries compile in just a few seconds. And the compiled code runs close to the speed of C. Go lets you move fast.

Go comes with support for multi-processing, and is a fresh and lightweight take on object-oriented design. It also comes with some cool features like true closures and reflection.

Mapletree Logistics Trust [M44U] requested to halt its trading on Singapore Exchange on Nov 09 1353hr in anticipation of an upcoming significant announcement.

MapletreeLog announced they will launch a private placement to raise between $79 million and $82 million for acquisitions. A total of 115 million new units will be issued. The new units will be priced at between 69 cents and 71 cents each, representing a discount of 3.9 per cent to 6.6 per cent as compared to the last trading price of last Friday's. About $78 million from the private placement will go towards two yield accretive acquisitions in Singapore. The private placement is likely to reduce the stake held by MapletreeLog sponsor, Mapletree Investments, from 46.9 per cent to 44.3 per cent.

Is today's 3 per cent fall, after the trading halt was lifted, a cause for concern? According to MapletreeLog, the yield accretive acquisition will add, on a proforma basis, 0.04 cents or 0.7 per cent to the annualised distribution …

Panda Cloud Antivirus is a lightweight, always updated virus killer because Panda does most of its computing, file-checking, and threat updating on its own servers. Anti-virus definition is updated almost real time on cloud without users having to update it himself.

The video below shows what will happen if the forward leaning anti gravity trick does not go smoothly. Forward leaning anti gravity dance trick is Michael Jackson's creation and is patented.

Michael Jackson's 45 degree angle lean explained

So how does this anti gravity trick works? According to gizmodo,

Trying to lean beyond one's center of gravity normally leads to a giant, awkward step forward to retain balance, so to achieve the 45-degree angle he wanted, Michael and his dancers used special shoes as well as a trick in the stage floor. When the time came for the move, a peg-like aperture would protrude from the dance floor. The heel of the dancers' shoes featured a triangular cut out that could be hitched onto the peg, anchoring the dancers to lean much farther forward, and thus blowing the world's collective mind.TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MICHAEL JACKSON.

Ever since I bought Parkway Holdings [P27], the trend is only in one direction - UP. Is the upward trend going to be reversed?

If we were to just study the technical aspects, the upward trend may soon be reversed. However, it is to note that the stock is still not overbought may be close to overbought soon.

What about the fundamentals? Parkway Holdings is the leading private healthcare provider in Asia, offering bespoke healthcare. Its ability to sell the Novena medical suites in 1Q10 may lead to many brokerage houses' re-rating of the stock. Do note that Parkway Life Reits declared a higher DPU this quarter.

I believe Parkway Holdings still hold sound fundamentals for mid and long term investors.

The House of Representatives on Saturday approved the most sweeping healthcare legislation since the creation of Medicare 44 years ago, giving a boost to President Obama's campaign to guarantee health coverage to almost all Americans.

An article published on Experts-Exchange discussed on the differences among the many terms we often faced in programming - Null, Empty, Blank, #N/A, ZLS, Nothing, Missing.

The author, Markus G Fischer, explains the concepts technically well and sometimes funny in places to make the lengthy article not so boring. If you have problems viewing the article due to some membership access restriction, I am most willing to send it to you.

Forbes.com presents five key Singapore risks to watch:SecurityPolitical changeCorruption and lack of transparencyRelations with neighboursDemographics and race relationsFive political risks to watch in Singapore [via]

Google Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings. Today, the Dashboard covers more than 20 products and services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts, Latitude and many more.

Transparency, choice and control — now complete with a Dashboard! [via]

One of the reason as to why I invested in EPure International Ltd is because I know China is investing in water and wastewater projects.

On 6 Nov, Epure won a landmark contract to run 8 wastewater treatment plants in Hainan. According to a press release by EPure,Deal is first of its kind in China to offer “bundled” operating contracts for multiple municipal plants to private bidders Provides strong affirmation of Group’s operating capabilities and technical expertise China’s growing wastewater treatment needs and government plans to raise capacity continue to fuel growth

China’s leading water solutions provider, Epure International Ltd. (Epure, the Group or 伊普国际), has clinched a high-profile deal to manage and operate eight municipal wastewater treatment plants in Hainan province.

In accordance with China’s 11th Five-Year Plan, state-owned Hainan Provincial Water Conservancy & Power Group Co., Ltd. has built 16 new water treatment plants to revamp the province’s wastewater disposal s…

First, my 2 to 6 Nov training did not happen due to incapability of my HR.

Second, my 9 to 13 Nov training was cancelled due to a scheduled Ground Acceptance Test on that week. Now, I was told the Ground Acceptance Test is to be delayed for a week but my training was already cancelled! Looks like I have little choice but to live with this very indeterministic and disruptive nature of my projects at work.

Businesses and consumers can look forward to using Chinese characters in their website address to better reach their customers or friends who prefer Chinese web addresses. The Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), the national registry for domain names, will be accepting initial registrations for Chinese Domain Names from 23 November 2009.

Hackers are exploiting web users that were too late in signing up for Google Wave, says Symantec. Google Wave is currently open for invitations only, which means you will only be eligible as a member upon receiving an invitation from Google itself.

The Learning Pyramid says that learners retain approximately:90% of what they learn when they teach someone else/use immediately.75% of what they learn when they practice what they learned.50% of what they learn when engaged in a group discussion.30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration.20% of what they learn from audio-visual.10% of what they learn when they've learned from reading.5% of what they learn when they've learned from lecture.I agree with the above.